Funds appropriated to buy Baca Ranch
Denver Post
February 18, 2003
Mosca - The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Baca Wildlife Refuge is another step closer to reality after $12 million was appropriated into the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund to purchase the Baca Ranch that adjoins the dunes in southern Colorado's San Luis Valley.
The purchase of the 97,000-acre Baca Ranch and its associated water rights will protect the very existence of the 39-sqare mile Great Sand Dunes, officials say.
The Nature Conservancy is in the process of purchasing the ranch for $31.28 million, and as soon as another $10 million is appropriated, the ranch will be transferred to the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Parts of the ranch will also be transferred to the U.S. Forest Service's Rio Grande National Forest.
"This project would not have been possible without the enthusiastic support of Colorado's leaders, including Gov. Bill Owens, Sen. Wayne Allard, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Rep. Scott McInnis," said Charles Bedford, the conservancy's associate director in Colorado.
The Nature Conservancy's 100,000-acre Medano-Zapata Ranch, adjacent to the Baca Ranch and the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, is home to bison, elk and significant bird populations. Several plant and animal species, including the Great Sand Dunes tiger beetle, are found nowhere else in the world.
Denver Post
February 18, 2003
Mosca - The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Baca Wildlife Refuge is another step closer to reality after $12 million was appropriated into the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund to purchase the Baca Ranch that adjoins the dunes in southern Colorado's San Luis Valley.
The purchase of the 97,000-acre Baca Ranch and its associated water rights will protect the very existence of the 39-sqare mile Great Sand Dunes, officials say.
The Nature Conservancy is in the process of purchasing the ranch for $31.28 million, and as soon as another $10 million is appropriated, the ranch will be transferred to the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Parts of the ranch will also be transferred to the U.S. Forest Service's Rio Grande National Forest.
"This project would not have been possible without the enthusiastic support of Colorado's leaders, including Gov. Bill Owens, Sen. Wayne Allard, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Rep. Scott McInnis," said Charles Bedford, the conservancy's associate director in Colorado.
The Nature Conservancy's 100,000-acre Medano-Zapata Ranch, adjacent to the Baca Ranch and the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, is home to bison, elk and significant bird populations. Several plant and animal species, including the Great Sand Dunes tiger beetle, are found nowhere else in the world.
